The recording is 150-hour long, and according to TEPCO 1,665 voices and 29 images have been modified. The company says it is to protect the privacy of individual employees and there is no other intention.

However, blurring is such that we can't even discern the face of then-President Masataka Shimizu, and we cannot see the facial expressions in others. Voices are often interrupted with beeping sound or muted.

The screen is divided into 6 smaller screens. It was a teleconference between the headquarters and Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and other locations, so the image quality is not that great to begin with. However, an engineer at an audio-visual company suspects TEPCO may have modified the footage more than necessary. For an example, he says, "About the seawater injection, Plant Manager Masao Yoshio made a cross with his hands [indicating "no go"] in one scene. But only his hands are blurred [and look unnatural].

The press have demanded the public disclosure of the recordings of the teleconference since the start of the accident. TEPCO has declined the request due to "employees' privacy". The disclosure was finally decided by the new management who was installed on June 27 this year [at TEPCO's shareholders' meeting]. However, TEPCO's conditions for disclosure include (1) No recording of sound or images allowed; (2) No reporting of names of TEPCO's employees other than the top management, and the company says it will prohibit the violators from further viewing the recording and attending TEPCO's press conference.

しかも、当初は、視聴期間は５日間とし、生の映像を視聴できる記者を１社１人に限定した。枝野経済産業相が改善を指示して、約１か月にのびた。

On top of these stipulations, the company initially said the viewing would be only for 5 days, and that only one reporter per news organization would be allowed to view the raw footage. Thanks to the instruction from Mr. Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, TEPCO extended the period to about one month.

Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association requested that TEPCO disclose the entire footage without modification, but only 5-day worth of footage has been made public. TEPCO's negative attitude toward information disclosure is also reflected in the footage that has been publicly disclosed.

When [experts] were pointing to the possible hydrogen explosion of Reactor 3 [i.e. before Reactor 3 exploded], then-Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata is heard on the phone with TEPCO's senior management, "It is a judgement call whether it is OK to disturb citizens. If I'm asked about it (possibility of hydrogen explosion) in the next press conference, I will deny it, and say it is not possible."

Well, I don't quite agree with Yomiuri's assessment (Yomiuri, of all newspapers) that Mr. Katsumata's comment means TEPCO was trying to hide. At that time, it might have caused panic, although it may have been no big deal after the explosion of Reactor 1. What was more criminal was what the national government did after the explosion of Reactor 3 on March 14, and the explosion of Reactor 4 on March 15. They did nothing. They didn't warn residents in the surrounding areas beyond saying "it may be better to stay indoors just in case", they didn't warn residents at all in the wider areas in Tohoku and Kanto where the radioactive plume went.

Unlike officials in Contra Costa County in California who warned the residents on what to do to protect themselves from the toxic fume from the Chevron refinery accident, the Japanese government did nothing. It could have said exactly the same thing as the Contra Costa County officials said:

Don't be outside, go indoors, close doors and windows, shut down air conditioners, and seal doors and windows with tapes or wet towel.

Instead, the Prime Minister's Office (under Naoto Kan) issued a vague, cryptic announcement on March 20, 2011, telling citizens that it might be better not to get wet in the rain, but if you did get wet, no big deal. "There is no effect on health", the announcement says. The phrase sounds painfully familiar now.

If you're interested in viewing the video(s) publicly disclosed (about one hour and 30 minutes), here are the links:

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

Along with commentary on day's financial news, it also provides links to the sites with financial and economic news, market data, stock technical analysis, and other relevant information that could potentially affect the financial markets and beyond.

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